Christmas at the Institute
by Billie Wolfgang
Summary: Logan stays up late to confront Santa.


**Name: **Christmas at the Institute**  
Rating: **K+**  
Disclaimer: **Don't own Marvel, but Disney does. Lucky ducks.**  
Pairings: **Extremely limited and short Scott/Jean. Just them sitting on a chair together. Nothing much.**  
Summary: **Logan stays up on Christmas Eve to confront Santa.**  
Genre: **Humor/General

* * *

**11:37 AM, 12/24**

The fire burned happily in the fireplace, a makeshift Christmas tree was set up in the den, and Kitty and Bobby, even though they were of legal age, watched the snow falling excitedly. Kurt and Hank eventually joined them, and before long, all four of them were outside, hurling snowballs at each other. Kitty and Bobby crouched on one side of the field, hidden behind a shield of ice, courtesy of the Iceman. Kurt and Hank scraped together a makeshift fort made of well-packed snow, and after a few minutes of strategizing and snowball-making, the air was soon filled with packed balls of frozen water. The rest of the X-Men watched from the front of the Institute, clutching their cups of hot chocolate and looking highly amused. Even Logan cracked a smirk, because it's hard not to smirk at Bobby getting pegged in the face with his own element.

**12:46 PM, 12/24**

About an hour into the fight, Logan, Jean, and Scott all got tired of sitting in the snow and went back inside, watching the fight through the windows. It was Christmas Eve, and even for oppressed mutants everywhere, it was a happy day. Despite mutant discrimination still being at large, humans made it their objective to not insult any mutants, and even try to compliment them.

But Logan had a different objective.

Everyone knew who Santa was. Santa was a supposedly jolly old fat man who could magically fit through chimneys. But even Nightcrawler couldn't fit through chimneys (and trust me, Logan knew this), so this was physically impossible. And making a flock of reindeer fly – get this, _fly_- to every single house in the world with children was both animal abuse _and_ impossible. As Logan learned about the mutants, he figured that this Santa fellow was a mutant. There was no other explanation. Jean picked up on these thoughts, and when she informed Scott, he simply smirked and replied, "Typical of Logan."

**6:13 PM, 12/24**

Bobby, Kitty, Hank, and Kurt came in soaking wet around three in the afternoon, shivering but grinning. They ran through the Institute to change their clothes, because Logan said mopping up their water puddles was not going to be his job.

When the four of them were dry and the puddles were cleaned up, (which, surprisingly, took a long amount of time because Kitty and Bobby couldn't stop laughing) the whole of the X-Men gathered in the den. Jean and Scott were snuggled up in a chair by the fire, Kitty and Bobby were sitting next to Hank and Kurt on the couch, arguing yet laughing over who won the snowball fight, Ororo and Rogue were sitting on separate armchairs and reading separate books, and Forge was sitting on the floor, working with his tongue stuck out on a small device, but Logan was the only one who remained standing, watching his team with a shadow of a smile on his face.

**8:23 PM, 12/24**

After sitting around, talking, and a few present exchanges (though this year they didn't really bother with gifts), the X-Men started to clear out. One by one over the next two hours, they left, and soon Logan and Ororo were the only ones left. She glanced at the team leader, who was staring into the fire with a blank look on his face.

"Logan…"

He glanced at her, not turning his head.

"I know what I'm doin', 'Ro. I won't hurt him."

Ororo sighed and shook her head, also shutting her book and standing up.

"Don't fall asleep, Logan," she murmured as she passed him. Logan sighed and sat down on the couch. If he was going to wait, he might as well get comfortable.

**12:15 AM, 12/25**

Logan swore he heard something overhead. He strained his already-enhanced hearing. Yes, those were definitely footsteps on the roof. More specifically, boots. And heavy ones. Logan sat straight up, all senses overly alert, but nothing came down the chimney. Instead, in what seemed to be a puff of sparkles, a man appeared right in front of the fireplace. This man was no other than Santa Claus.

Logan bolted up from the couch, but restrained himself from unsheathing his claws. Santa looked at him, smiling hugely.

"Ah, Logan! Finally we meet."

"Wait, you…were waitin' to meet me?"

"Of course. You're the only person who's been on my list for as long as you have," Santa pointed out, still smiling. Logan couldn't find anything to say.

"You're wondering if I'm a mutant."

"Y-Yeah, that's what I was going to say…"

"Well, you're right." Logan pulled a face, but Santa remained smiling. He did, however, take a cookie off of the plate Kitty had left for him.

"So you can…teleport, I'm guessing?"

"Yes, but not like your fellow X-Man, Kurt. I don't travel to a different dimension; I just…reappear in different places. I can't explain it, since I've never gotten examined by a scientist, and to tell you the truth, I don't want to." Santa finished his cookie and glanced at the door leading to the kitchen.

"Kitty, you can come out now," Santa said, brushing crumbs off of his coat and gloves. From the other side of the door, a groan was heard, and Kitty phased through. She looked delighted, and could only stare in awe at the man in the den.

"You too, Jean. And Scott." Jean pushed open the door and smiled sheepishly, and Scott only poked his head around the doorway. His expression was unreadable, but it was like a combination of shocked, awestruck, and disbelief.

"So you're really…?" Kitty started, but couldn't finish.

"Yes, I really am Santa," the jolly man replied, grinning. Jean crossed her arms across her chest, looking confused. Scott came out from the doorway and stood next to her, head tilted as he seemed to examine St. Nicolas.

"Can you also clone yourself?" Logan asked, side-glancing at the other three X-Men for a split second.

"Yes I can. That's how I get all the presents around every year, of course."

"So…if you're a mutant, how come Cerebro never picked you up?" the telepath asked, leaning almost by instinct against Scott. He put an arm around her shoulder.

Santa laughed, a jolly laugh indeed, with the signature 'ho ho ho' in it.

"While Charles Xavier is a brilliant man indeed, Cerebro's signature can't lock in on my location in the North Pole because of the magnetic waves."

"But what about when you're making your way across the world?"

"No telepath who has ever worked Cerebro has ever bothered tracking new mutants on Christmas Eve. The X-Men are too festive for that," Santa answered, nodding. He took another cookie, glanced around at all their faces, and smiled again.

"I really need to get going, I still have a lot of houses to visit," Santa said, nodding to Logan, who nodded back. "Merry Christmas!"

"Merry Christmas to you too, Nick," Logan grunted, watching him as he left their presents underneath the tree. Santa smiled one last time, and vanished in that sparkly cloud that followed him around. There was a startled silence as the X-Men who had witnessed this gathered up their thoughts (and in Kitty's case, her jaw) and started going back upstairs, yawning and whispering about what they just saw. Logan lingered in the den, smirked, and murmured to himself, "and a Happy New Year," switched off the lights, and went upstairs. He had a feeling tomorrow was going to be a long day.

**11:36 AM, 12/25**

Bobby dashed in the den from the kitchen, since he just about wolfed down his breakfast in about three minutes flat. The rest of them, a few still looked tired, came in slowly after the Iceman, and took their regular spots. There was a highly entertaining wrestling match between Kitty and Bobby over who could find their present first, but it ended in Scott's entire lower body being covered in ice from a miss-aimed ice beam. Kitty found hers while Bobby was unfreezing Cyclops.

Later there was another snowball fight, which this time involved Rogue and Tildie, but the rest of the X-Men sat inside and talked about Logan's encounter with Santa.

And all in all, even Logan would admit that it had been a merry Christmas, indeed.


End file.
